It's not easy growing up in rural New Jersey, especially when your chores keep getting in the way of your occult fantasies. But when little Francis Sharp's imagination gets the better of him, he finds himself lost in a much stranger world than he ever knew existed. The woods behind Francis's house really do hold some unearthly secrets that put the radio stories to shame . . .

Stranded in Valleyghast, a bizarre city of smokestacks and monsters, Francis must rely on an eccentric pair of goblin cousins for help in finding his way back to Jersey. But what mysterious forces conspire to keep him in the grip of the uncanny?